As Harvey Drowns Houston, Trump Struggles to Contain Himself

Three days after Hurricane Harvey began lashing eastern Texas, the floodwaters in Houston are continuing to rise in what the National Weather Service has termed an “unprecedented” crisis. Monday morning brought new images of streets and highways flooded under feet of water, and dramatic photos of local Texans using small boats and kayaks to rescue their neighbors. Multiple people have died, 30,000 evacuees are predicted to be living in shelters, and hundreds of thousands more are expected to apply for federal disaster assistance as part of what will become a years-long, multi-billion dollar recovery effort.

Harvey has also presented a unique challenge, and opportunity, for Donald Trump. Early on, the White House strove to portray Trump as unconcerned with the politics of the storm, despite his previous preoccupation withtheeffect Hurricane Sandy had on Barack Obama’s polling. “This is right up President Trump’s alley,” Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossertsaid Friday, as the hurricane approached the coast. “When we go in and brief him on preparations, he is focused on making sure that the American people in the storm’s path have what they need. His questions weren’t about issues or about large political consequences.”

Since the rain began falling, however, Trump has struggled to respond to the first natural disaster of his presidency with anything other than contrived seriousness at best, morbid fascination at worst. Trump’s public comments on the storm started off professional enough, with a series of tweets from his personal account showing photo and video of him receiving briefings and updates. “I encourage everyone in the path of #HurricaneHarvey to heed the advice & orders of their local and state officials,” he tweeted Friday, shortly before leaving the White House for Camp David. From there, as the cable-news networks moved into full-time Harvey coverage, his postings became more excited, and less sympathetic. “125 MPH winds!” he wrote, emphatically, in one post. “Storm turned Hurricane is getting much bigger and more powerful than projected,” he said in another.

Trump took a break from tweeting about the hurricane to announce that he had pardoned Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff who was convicted of violating a court order not to racially profile and illegally detain motorists on suspicion of being undocumented immigrants, before focusing again on Harvey. “Record setting rainfall,” Trump observed, before quickly getting in a plug for a friend’s book. “Many people are now saying that this is the worst storm/hurricane they have ever seen. Good news is that we have great talent on the ground,” he noted. “Wow - Now experts are calling #Harvey a once in 500 year flood! We have an all out effort going, and going well!”

The president’s online spectatorship was interspersed with moments of leadership. Trump tweeted encouraging messages to the FEMA director (“You are doing a great job”), Texas Governor Greg Abbott (“America is w/ you!”), and the volunteers working to coordinate disaster relief (“THANK YOU”).

Still, the president’s attention repeatedly strayed, as he lashed out against Mexico and NAFTA. A tweet promising that he would “be going to Texas as soon as that trip can be made without causing disruption” was followed by another announcing that he would be visiting another state that he “won by a lot” in order to hurt its Democratic senator.

The rainfall is not expected to abate for at least the next four days, potentially complicating Trump’s planned visit to the region on Tuesday, and with recovery efforts possibly stretching into the unknown future, the way he and the federal government respond to the disaster could do to his presidency what Hurricane Katrina did to George W. Bush. Though the 43rd president was already unpopular when he badly bungled his efforts to aid in New Orleans’s recovery—infamously declaring that the FEMA director was doing a “heckuva job” as the city flooded and hundreds died—Trump, just over 200 days into his administration, is already the least popular president in modern history. Prematurely declaring the mission accomplished in Houston might come back to haunt him, too.